Bas Rutten talks new web series: 'If fun meets work, I think you have a good combination'

UFC Hall of Famer and MMA legend Bas Rutten has never seemed to have a problem being in front of the cameras, where he’s shined as a fighter, commentator, host and actor.

At 52, Rutten has certainly picked up a thing or two by acting alongside the likes of Kevin James and Henry Winkler. But as he takes his larger-than-life persona to a new sketch-style web series, “The Bas Rutten Experiment,” the ex-champ believes his role on AXS TV’s now-defunct “Inside MMA” show was also of great help when it came to developing the ability to deliver natural on-camera performances.

“TV helps, especially if you’re live,” Rutten recently told MMAjunkie Radio. “And also, with ‘Inside MMA,’ if you do a live show, you can mess up. Once you get used to that, you get used to how to save yourself if something does go wrong. There’s all these little tricks that you can do, and hopefully you can dig yourself out of the hole that you just buried (yourself in).

“You start getting more comfortable. And once you start getting more comfortable, you can start thinking about the little things. They always say, ‘More is less in acting.’ If you go too much, well, it’s not going to work. But if you can just do it a little bit, and, as long as you can focus on that, that’s going to go better and better. Hopefully the more calm you get, the more relaxed, the more prepared you can be, the better the outcome is going to be.”

The first episode of “The Bas Rutten Experiment” is available now here at MMAjunkie. The creation process behind it, Rutten explains, was pretty simple: They just brainstorm “crazy stuff” for him to do and see if it works.

“We had a lot of fun doing it,” Rutten said. “If fun meets work, I think you have a good combination.”

While they’ve only shot two more episodes, which will be released at Champions.co in the coming weeks, and also will be available at MMAjunkie, Rutten says that further production will depend on fan response.

“It’s six-minute videos, so they’re not too long for the short attention span people out there like me,” Rutten said. “So this Tuesday, and next Tuesday, then the Tuesday after. And if people enjoy it, we’ll keep on shooting.”

To hear more from Rutten on “The Bas Rutten Experiment,” check out the video above.

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